Lake City, Colorado

We made it! We left Banderas on the 1st of September and headed to Lake City. About a 4 hour drive. Stopped at a rest area after turning on to Colorado 149 and ate lunch. Then we stated to climb a little bit. We had already gone over Monarch pass, with no trouble. Just after leaving Ron had some trouble with his coach and had to pull over for a few minutes. It soon cleared up and we were on our way again. Puling into Crookes Falls at 2:00pm.
We were greeted by Victor and Charlotte. What a beautiful spot! The water fall is roaring and the blue sky is so bright. we are at 8700 feet. After set up we sat around and caught up on everything under the sun.
We went for our first ride on Friday. We went to Round Top mountain. About a 20 mile round trip ride. Nice sunny day and could see for ever. All machines ran well and we had a great time.
Our next ride was on Saturday and we went to Big Blue recreation area. Another 20 mile round trip ride. That’s 2 rides in 2 days! Again another beautiful day. Each night we have had a community supper around the campfire. Some friends of V&C also came in. David and Geneva. So now there are 2 Davids and 2 Lorettas! The owners of Crooke’s Falls also came over for supper. One nite it was Italian, another nite it was Chinese and then my favorite roast beef!
Crooke’s Falls is a hydroelectric plant. It was originally used to power a lead foil plant. Today it is being refurbished to generate electricity. Around the falls area is a lodge, 4 rv sites and a small cabin. The owners are friends of Victor and Charlotte. Great people and very interesting too.
Our next ride was yesterday, September 6th. This time we drove about 30 miles to the staging area, where we unloaded the atv’s. We were headed to Indian Creek area. The day was overcast and cool with a 70% chance of rain. We headed out on some nice trails, led by the Pastor from the First Baptist Church and his wife, David and Candy Beebe. (Yes another David) Our first stop was to a beautiful lookout over the Powderhorn Valley. Boy was it green and wonderful. After a brief stop we headed out and took several trails, but kept coming to closed gates. We found our way around and on the way back, went through an unlocked gate only to see a farmer going out the locked gate. He did not leave it open for us and we had to backtrack to go around. He saw us, but chose not to be accommodating by leaving the gate open for us to get out! Oh well!
We continued on and came to a crossroad. One way went back to the staging area and the other way went to the trail head for the Powderhorn lake hiking train, 11 miles up the mountain. 3 folks decided to call it quits and the other 5 decided to go for it up the mountain. Led again by the Pastor. What a beautiful ride, but on the way up it started to spit rain. Soon we were in the clouds and it was misting. Arriving at the top and the end of the trail, the clouds were so low we could not see into the valley below. We were at 11197 feet. We all put on all the rain gear we had, to begin our trip back to the cars. No sooner had we left and the rain came down, not gently mind you, but rather hard. It was cold too, about 45 or so. We had 11 or more miles to go. The beast had a top cover but going down hill all the rain ran off the front and into the cab! Loretta had a windbreaker on, a blanket and a plastic bag, plus her helmet and face shield. I had on a sweatshirt, vest and a windbreaker as well as windbreaker pants over my shorts, a dew rag and googles. We also were driving into the wind. Soon we were soaked, my hands were cold, even though I had on 2 pairs of gloves, my legs were wet, my head, I couldn’t see and we are barreling down the mountain at 18 miles an hour! Thought we would never get back to the cars! We got back and still had to get the atv’s loaded. But first I had to get out of the wet windbreaker pants! My shorts were soaked and I was sitting in a puddle on my seat. Car started and the heat cranked up for our trip back to the motor homes! Boy what memories we created today! Ya Hoo!!! Are we having fun!
Loretta was so tired that she had a cup of hot chocolate and went to bed at 6pm and didn’t get up until 9am.
Happy Trails and keep in touch!